Category: Skills Symposium

Plenty of opportunities to learn
at the 2020 Sacramento Symposium

Newcomers to public participation and seasoned pros alike find lots to learn at the IAP2 USA Skills Symposium, March 9 – 13, in Sacramento, California.

First of all, a big THANK YOU! to all those who have registered for courses so far! The early-bird deadline has passed, but there are still spaces available.

Have you taken the Foundations course yet? This is the basis of P2 know how and the prerequisite for professional certification, and you can take both modules in one five-day period. The three-day Planning for Effective Public Participation takes you right to the basics: what P2 is and its rationale. You’ll learn about the Five Steps and discuss how to develop P2 objectives that can become part of an organization’s process. It’s a great introduction for newcomers to the practice, managers and experienced practitioners who need a refresher.

Techniques for Effective Public Participation is the two day “sequel” to “Planning”, and lets you add dozens of practical tools and methodologies to your public participation toolkit—powerful techniques you can put to immediate use in your next project. You’ll learn how and when — and even whether — to use each technique, what their strengths and weaknesses are and the resources you’ll need. 

The cutoff date is less than 10 days away for the 2019 IAP2 USA Skills Symposium (Feb. 25 – March 1, Austin, Texas), and you really don’t want to miss this! The opportunity comes but once a year, to learn about aspects of the P2 profession that you don’t get anywhere else.

Do you have to engage a lot of people in a relatively short time-frame? Large Scale Engagement Techniques examines three popular methods for large-scale, dialogue-based public participation on public policy issues: the 21st-Century Town Hall, Deliberative Polling, and Citizen Juries. Each process helps participants learn about an issue, create space for in-depth deliberation and generate detailed feedback on public policy options.

How do you get people’s attention so you can move past the “usual suspects” and “same voices singing the same song”? Meaningful Tools, Powerful Outcomes promises some new techniques for bringing more people into the conversation. You’ll learn how best to use Socratic Circle, PhotoVoice and Ideas Fair, and you’ll walk away with new excitement and motivation to try something different.

And do you have a tried-and-true method for determining whether your P2 process “worked”? In Evaluating and Measuring P2, you’ll learn about theories and practical strategies to help you evaluate your public participation efforts. You’ll get a chance to apply foundational tools like logic models, examine the differences between process and impact evaluation, and review the components of an evaluation plan.

And there’s still some room in our other courses, too! Check out the Schedule-at-a-Glance and register by February 21.

See y’all in Texas!

Need to convince anyone that you should go to the 2019 Skills Symposium?

The 2019 IAP2 USA Skills Symposium is coming up – February 25 – March 1 in Austin, Texas. It’s the annual time to learn, stay and connect, to bolster your P2 know-how, surrounded by P2 colleagues.

You know the value, but what if it means a week away from your job? How do you explain the return on investment?

Here are 5 REALLY GOOD REASONS:

1. Good P2 means Good Decisions. Your organization benefits when you’re as good as you can be at your job.
2. Good P2 is Good PR. Your organization looks better when it listens better.
3. Good P2 is efficient. With more people standing up and demanding to be counted in decisions that affect them, doing P2 right the first time means sustainable outcomes and no procedural delays.
4. Good P2 is always changing. The Symposium features highly-experienced, internationally-respected trainers, who will train you in how to plan and implement successful P2 processes. This is a rare opportunity to take advantage of so many different courses in one place!
5. Good P2 is about sharing. You’ll get to network with other practitioners: think what you can learn and what you can bring back to your organization; no need to reinvent the wheel!

Take a look at all of the courses on offer and register today.

And a really good reason to let you have the time off NOW: the early-bird discount ends December 14. So don’t delay! Pick the courses you want and book your room at our host hotel, the Lone Star Court and make a date to join us, deep in the heart of Texas!

Need more information – check out the website.